If you want to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design, it’s best to pick a project for which you can create frilly dresses from a bygone era. Since its introduction at the 1948 Academy Awards, this category has favored period pictures, including the 2021 winner “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Voters love to reward the creative forces behind such films, especially those that are about the aristocracy including recent champs “Marie Antoinette” (2007), “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2008), “The Duchess” (2009), “The Young Victoria” (2010), and “Anna Karenina” (2013). (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2023 Oscars Best Costume Design predictions.)
By the way, none of those films even competed for Best Picture. Indeed, only 20 of the most recent 73 Best Picture champs also won this award. Among these was “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004). Fantasy films such as this often boast Oscar-winning costumes, including 2022 champ “Cruella,” 2019 winner “Black Panther,” and recent picks “Alice in Wonderland” (2011), “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2016) and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2017).
Recreating the various looks of the early 20th century has also proven an effective way to win as evidenced by “The Aviator” (2005), “The Artist” (2012), and “The Great Gatsby” (2014). Voters are also delighted to travel to exotic locales as with “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2006) and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2015).
The one era that does not have costumes that usually appeal to academy members is the modern-day. You have to go all the way back to “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1995) to find a film set in the present day that won for its costumes, and that one benefited from being about drag queens.
UPDATED: February 6, 2023
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Ruth Carter
“Babylon,” Mary Zophres
“Elvis,” Catherine Martin
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Jenny Beavan
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Shirley Kurata
Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
